He Didn't Notice
by JosRose
Summary: Shiro is gone. The team is all dealing with grief in their own ways. But some hidden talents and a growing feelings might just help two members deal with their pain together.
1. Chapter 1

It was late, but then again, it always seemed late while the castle drifted through the stars. Keith tossed in his bed for the fiftieth time. Shiro was gone… He was missing somewhere out in the universe and the rest of the Paladins didn't know where to look. He threw his covers off and to the side, swinging his feet to the ground. He needed some air. He needed to think. He needed to get away.

Down the halls of the castle he wandered. He didn't know where he was headed, and right now, he didn't really care. The Bridge. The Red Lion's hanger. The training deck. Keith stopped walking in front of the door. He thought for a moment, sighed, and then went inside.

Round after round he fought against the androids. He took out his frustration, his pain, and his worry on the hunks of metal that came down through openings in the ceiling and up through panels in the floor. He fought them off until he felt the pull of sleep finally dragging him back to reality.

"Pause training sequence," his clear tenor voice echoed through the cavernous room as all movement except for his labored breathing stopped.

He no longer strode with a sense of urgency and a feeling of being lost when he left the training deck. Now, his feet seemed to weigh him down, his bayard felt too heavy for his hands, and his mind only thought of finding somewhere to rest. Having traveled quite a long way in his wanderings, the closest place was the couch in the lounge.

Keith finally slept.

Elsewhere in the castle, other minds that should have been sleeping were also restless at the loss of their brave leader and friend. Pidge hadn't left the Green Lion's hanger in several hours. She spent her time scanning for Shiro, adjusting her equipment, and modifying the Green Lion. In the beginning of her escapade, Hunk had opted to join her. But, upon seeing that she would neither look at or speak to him like she normally would while she worked, he chose to find his own way of coping in the kitchen.

The staple food on the castle was green food-goo; however, Hunk prided himself on his skills in the kitchen, even though the space ingredients made for some early mishaps, such as cookies that made better scaultrite lenses for the teludav than snacks. Since then, he had made a cake that turned to soup after three minutes, and a pasta which, currently, had not killed anyone yet. He had high hopes for his new recipe as he began to pour out his grief into his cooking.

The Alteans, though obviously troubled and hurt by their friend's disappearance, kept plodding away at the ever-growing task of defending the universe. Now, with yet another life lost to the hands of Zarkon, Princess Allura threw herself and all of her energies full tilt into planning the next move and preparing with the Blade of Marmora. Likewise, Coran found his hands full repairing the damage sustained in the final battle against Zarkon. If he was being honest, he was surprised to see the ship still able to support life, let alone be on its way back to the Balmera in order to harvest another battleship-class crystal.

This left Lance ample time to himself to think. Normally, now he would be sleeping, or training. He could never tell what time it really was without the sun. But he had decided that it was probably night time back on Earth. Lance sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time in the span of about an hour (or a varga).

He looked out the window at the stars passing by as this fantastical ship soared through the universe. _Earth_ , he thought. _Home… Mom…_ He shook himself as he felt a tear begin to well up in his eye. _No, not now. I have to be strong. She would want me to be strong... So would Shiro…_ That was the last straw. His chair gave out a high-pitched screech as it slid a couple feet on the hard metal floor. Lance ponded one fist against the clear window as he stood and began to walk out of his quarters.

 _That was stupid,_ he told himself as he shook the tingling sensation out of his hand while his feet carried him to some unknown destination aboard the ship.

Lance tried to make himself useful when he came across Pidge in her hanger, but she simply shooed him away. When he found Hunk elbows-deep in a bowl of foul smelling purple and yellow sludge, he decided to excuse himself before he might vomit. He walked onto the bridge and was promptly ignored by all individuals deep in thought for planning the next move, so he continued on until he found Coran working in a compartment off one of the main halls. He didn't stay long, however. Once Coran started telling Lance about the delicacies of the Altean waste disposal and pest control systems, he had had his fill and was ready to be alone once more.

Again, he was left to wander the halls of the ship, until he came upon a room that had quickly become one of his favorites: the pool. The mellow feeling that had plagued him since returning to the ship after the last battle melted away as he stepped through the doors and heard the cool water lapping at the edges of the pool. He quickly grabbed his swimming trunks from his self-designated cubby and carefully ran to the locker rooms.

Lance was never really sure which one was the men's room, because the signs all over the ship were in Altean. But Allura never joined him in the pool, despite his frequent requests, and Pidge rarely left her labs. So, Lance figured that whichever one he used would be good enough.

A splash resounded as Lance's body hit the surface of the water. He let himself sink for one second, two seconds, three. His toes hit the bottom of the pool, and he kicked as hard as he could, rocketing himself upwards through the cool water to the surface. He gulped at the air before plunging himself headlong into the water once more.

His mother had been the one to first teach Lance how to swim when he lived back on Earth by the sea. Back before the Galaxy Garrison, before Voltron… Lance often came to the pool when he found himself troubled or missing his home world. The icy touch of the water reminded him of the place he had left, the place he looked forward to, one day, seeing again. The sounds of the shallow waves as they struck against the metal edges of the pool reminded him of home, and days spent with his family. He was at peace.

It seemed like only a few ticks had passed when Lance heard Hunk calling him over the com system for breakfast. _I must have spent more time down here than I thought_. Begrudgingly, he pulled himself out of the pool and let the water slide and drip off of his body as he walked to grab his towel and change into normal clothes.

Keith didn't show up to breakfast. But no one blamed him. Allura had also refused to stop her work for something so simple as a meal. No one talked. They simply stared down at their plates and picked at their food. Hunk had managed to rescue his purple-yellow slop, but none of his friends much felt like eating after their exhausting night.

Lance walked in on the solemn meal with a fake smile that he hoped looked genuine. "Sup, guys? What's the grub?" He was met with sideways glances and a couple nods as he slid down into his chair. The mess on his plate seemed to stare up at him as he began to join his fellow crewmembers in the silence that was their breakfast table. "So…" Lance began. "Where's Keith? I mean, like I don't really care. But shouldn't he be here sulking or something?"

Hunk responded with a mere shrug. "I called him. Guess he doesn't feel much like eating."

Silence resumed and filled most of the meal, while Lance tried to make small talk without much luck. Once his plate was finished, Lance placed his dishes in a neat stack and excused himself. He needed some space.

As he passed through the lounge, he saw a familiar mop of black hair poking up over the edge of the couch. When he got closer, he saw Keith sprawled out on the cushions, his bayard resting near his hand where he dropped it. _Looks like I'm not the only one who couldn't sleep last night_ , Lance thought as he looked down at the form of his greatest rival. While Keith slept, Lance almost forgot the hatred and bitterness he often held against this boy. He saw himself; a tired, scared teenager thrust into a situation he wasn't even sure he wanted to be in.

Lance removed his jacket from his shoulders and gently draped it over the sleeping form on the couch. "We'll make it through this," he whispered as he stood up and left the room.


	2. Chapter 2

Keith woke some vargas later still on the couch in the lounge. None of the other Paladins had seen fit to wake him after their own restless night without their leader. The pilot of the Red Lion sat up slowly and reached for his bayard laying on the floor next to him when his groggy mind finally registered the unusual weight across his torso. Upon closer inspection, after Keith had rubbed the sleep from his eyes, he was met with the sight of Lance's jacket. The jacket that Lance had worn every day since Keith had met him.

Keith vaguely recalled overhearing Lance tell one of the others that it had been a gift from his mother when he had left home to attend the Galaxy Garrison. Lance treated that jacket like his prized possession. Keith ran a hand over the leather that seemed to be wearing a little thin in places.

Growing up with only a father at home, Keith had learned some necessary skills to take care of himself and his dad like the proper way to do laundry and how to sew. A thin smile began to grow as a thought began to form in the Red Paladin's head. He gently folded the jacket and strode out of the lounge.

"Hey, Coran, do you have a minute?"

"Why sure, Keith. What d'ya need? If it's something to do, I have plenty of scrubbing to do in the waste management systems..."

Keith cut off the older Altean before he could begin to tell a story that Keith was sure he didn't need to know. "Actually, Coran, I was wondering if you had any sewing supplies. I got a hole in my favorite jacket last night while in the training sequence." He hoped he looked nonchalant about his request.

Coran thought for a second as Keith watched his mustache twitch. "Ah, yes. We set up a room for a tailor down in the second quadrant, next to the third engine run-off room. It should have all the materials you need. I remember when I was first building the Palace of Lions with my grandfather…"

Keith quietly slipped away as Coran began to drone on and on.

After making a few wrong turns here and there along the way, he found himself in a room full of material, thread, needles, and some sort of machine that Keith supposed could have been a sewing machine. _Well,_ he thought, _good thing I know how to sew by hand._

Lance returned to his quarters after having a long, one-sided talk with his Lion. Blue never really answered him with anything that sounded like words, but the feelings were there, and Lance could tell that his Lion understood how he had felt. It was good to just get his grief out there in the open, which was hard when his teammates seemed to internalize their feelings. He let out another deep sigh as the door opened to his bedroom.

Laid out neatly on his bed was his jacket. For a second, he didn't remember why he hadn't been wearing it. As realization dawned on him, he stepped closer; something seemed different.

He picked up his well-worn garment to discover that the loose seams had been re-stitched, the stains that he had never been able to get out after rescuing Shiro from the army quarantine on Earth were gone, and the patch with his name on it that his mother had sewn to the inside of the jacket had been mended.

The Blue Paladin stood there for a long time, holding his beloved jacket and running his fingers over the professional-grade stitches that now adorned the fabrics. He did not notice the dark-haired boy watching from the doorway. Neither did Lance notice the first real grin that spread across the boy's face for the first time since the attack on Zarkon.

Keith couldn't stop the smile on his face as he quietly excused himself from watching Lance admire his handiwork on the jacket. When Pidge asked about it as he walked through the lounge, he simply said that he had had a productive day. She arced an eyebrow, but ultimately shrugged her shoulders and turned away, returning her attention to fishing whatever part she needed out of her old backpack.

The backpack caught Keith's eye as he passed a little closer. The canvas was fraying in places, and one of the straps had started to detach. _Looks like I have found my next target_.

Getting his hands on Pidge's backpack was harder than Keith had originally thought. But eventually he was able to empty the contents and slip the bag out of her room while she was busy in the lab. While going through the pockets, he found one containing patches from various events that Pidge must have taken part in. There were still darker spots on the back pack where the patches had once ridden proudly with her name, "Katie Holt," prominently displayed. Keith took these with him as well.

After Pidge's back pack, came making an apron for Hunk, complete with "Paladin's Pasta House" appliqued across the front. Keith was just heading out to begin a "Coranic the Mechanic" jumpsuit for Coran when he found a package nestled amongst his personal belongings in his quarters. The little red package would have been easily missed with the edges of Keith's jacket curled around it.

The Red Paladin stopped and sat down next to the small bundle of red. Slowly, he pulled the cord and allowed the paper to fall away. It was a framed photo. The frame was of a polished wood with wood burned lions running around the edges. The words "We are a Family" were also engraved into the surface of the frame. However, it was the photo inside that caught Keith's heart in his throat. It was from the day of their food fight in the dining hall. He stood laughing in a group of teens covered in green food goo with their wrists cuffed together, and on the far right of the photograph stood Shiro. Keith's friend, mentor, and second father.

Keith couldn't stop the tears. He barely noticed them as he held the framed photo to his chest and curled up on his bunk. He didn't notice the brown-haired boy in the well-worn jacket watching from the doorway. He didn't notice the tears and small smile on the boy's face as the door slid shut with a silent _whoosh_.


	3. Chapter 3

As the sun rose and a new day began on the Balmera, the Palace of Lions landed near the cavern where the inhabitants of the great creatures made their homes. It had been five days since Shiro's disappearance, and the other members of their rag-taggle band of misfits had slowly begun to recover from the shock that came from losing their leader and friend.

Upon exiting the ship, the Princess and Coran were escorted to the most recent battleship-class crystal, and Hunk tagged along to spend time with his friend Shae. Pidge, who never wanted to miss an opportunity to work on her equipment, opted to stay indoors.

Lance, who didn't want to spend any more time alone, but didn't want to seem too eager to spend time specifically with Keith, decided that he should challenge the Red Paladin's masculinity and suggest a speeder race. Keith did not back down from the challenge.

"Give up, hot head. You're never gonna beat me," Lance laughed as the two sped across the surface of the ancient alien, kicking up clouds of dust.

"In your dreams," Keith shouted back into his com as he gunned the motor of his speeder and pulled ahead.

Faster and faster the two rode, glancing at each other from time to time.

"Keith! Wait, stop!" Lance shouted.

"Oh no, you're not gonna get me with that."

"Keith!" But it was too late. Keith's speeder rocketed over the crevice. Lance pulled up short and ran to the edge. He couldn't see him. Where was Keith? _Wait. Is that him?_ Through an opening in the cloud of dust, Lance could just catch a glimpse of red. "I'm coming Keith!" Lance jumped off the edge, and started up his jetpack. "I'm coming, buddy," he whispered.

 _First things first when coming across an unconscious body, check for signs of life. Better thank mí Tío for the first aid lessons._ Lance had landed some three feet or so from the unmoving form of Keith on the ground. "Hey, Keith, buddy. You ok?" No answer. Lance gently tapped on the Keith's shoulder and spoke again. Nothing. Kneeling down beside the other boy's lifeless body, Lance bent over with his ear above Keith's mouth and looked down the length of his body to see if he could see any chest movements. Nothing.

"No way, man. You're not dying on me today." Lance removed Keith's helmet gently and felt under his jaw for a pulse. Nothing. "No, no, no, no!"

Lance tilted Keith's head back and checked his airways. No blockages. He put his ear to Keith's chest. Nothing. _Okay. I'm not losing you. I'm not letting you go._ Positioning his hands on the center of Keith's chest under the "V" of his rib cage, Lace began to give compressions. _"Stayin Alive. Ah, ah, ah, I'm stayin' aliiiiiiiive."_ He gave a slight scoff as he continued to give compressions. _Ironic that the correct beat for compressions is that song,_ he thought. He stopped compressions, checked for signs of life again. Nothing. Lance took a deep breath, and gave two gentle, yet forceful, breaths into Keith's lungs and returned to giving compressions.

"Wake up!" The tears were beginning to well up in Lance's eyes. "Don't do this, Keith." His arms felt weak. "You can't leave!" He checked for signs of life once more. Nothing. "Don't leave me…" Lance felt his body slump. He gently rested his hand on Keith's chest and closed his eyes. "I… I can't… I need you, Keith…"

"Shut up, Lance," came a pained voice from the ground. "You know you don't mean a word of any of that."

Lance's eyes shot open. There was Keith on the ground next to him, eyes open and that cocky grin starting to form. "Keith!" Lance flung his arms around the other boy's neck and pulled him into a crushing hug, but he released his hold quickly when Keith gave out a small wince of pain. "Sorry, I'm so sorry. I should have thought first. Where does it hurt? I can go get a bandage, or make a splint…"

Keith cut him off in the middle of his worried rambling. "I'll be fine, Lance. It's just some bruises." He began to sit up, but Lance stopped him as soon as he saw Keith's face contort into a grimace.  
"No, you're obviously not fine. Here, if you insist on moving, then let me carry you up to my speeder, then I'll take you back to the castle. You can spend a couple hours in the healing pods, and then you can think about moving on your own."

Keith didn't want to admit that he was having trouble moving, but eventually relented and allowed Lance to lift him in a bridal carry and begin to slowly ascend to the top of the cliff face where Lance's speeder waited.

"You know," Keith began jokingly as the two boys were about halfway up. "If anyone saw you carrying me like this, they might wonder. Especially after what you said before I woke up…"

"Shut up, or I'll drop you."

"But if you reacted the same way as the first time I fell, then it would only confirm anyone's suspicions that you actually really do care…"

"Why would anyone think I care about you specifically?" Keith could see Lance's face begin to flush. "I know first aid, and I didn't want to lose anyone else this week." Lance cleared his throat, but kept his face pointed up towards the top of the cliff.

"Then why did you give me your jacket the other day when I fell asleep on the couch?"

"Why did you fix it up? You didn't have to do that, you know. And since when did you know how to sew?"

"I…" Keith's voice caught in his throat. "I didn't think you would notice… Why did you give me that photo?"

Now it was Lance's turn to have his voice catch as he tried to speak. "I… I thought you hadn't noticed me either…"

Both boys were silent the rest of the trip to the speeder, and all the way to the castle. When Lance parked his speeder in its bay and carried Keith to the cryo pods, no one said a word. None of the others saw them as the walked along the halls.

Lance helped steady Keith as the pod began to close. "Lance," Keith began. But his words were cut off, and Keith fell asleep in the cryo pod's healing atmosphere. Lance stood there watching for a few moments as Keith slept.

"I know, Keith… I love you too."


	4. Chapter 4

When the rest of the team returned to the castle, Lance relayed a brief version of the story, only telling the main points, like Keith going over a cliff and Lance saving his life. Naturally, there was much concern, and everyone rushed to the cryo pod chamber to check on the team hothead. Predictably, Keith had not moved since Lance had helped him into the pod. Coran and Allura checked his vital signs and ensured that the pod was properly functioning before allowing themselves to relax. It would be a day or so before Keith would wake up again, so most of the team reluctantly left to continue working on their own projects.

All except Lance. Lance stayed there all day. He laid out a blanket and pillow on the floor and slept by Keith's pod. He didn't want Keith to wake up alone. The next day, Keith was still asleep in his pod. Allura told the team that his injuries had been worse than they had thought, and that it was a miracle that Lance was even able to bring him back in the first place. Normally, Lance would have gloated and pranced around like a hero. But not today.

Lance stayed very close to the cryo pods. He even took his meals in there just to be sure that he would be there for Keith as soon as he woke up. But Keith didn't wake up. One day turned to two; two days turned to three.

On the second day, Pidge asked Lance if he would like to go with her to retrieve Keith's speeder. Lance declined, saying that he hadn't been sleeping well (who would when sleeping on a hard metal floor in a drafty alien space ship). So, Pidge left with Hunk and Shae.

The Blue Paladin continued to stay by Keith's pod day and night. He barely slept and only ate when his stomach reminded him that food was vital to survival. He often found himself talking to Keith in his pod for hours on end the way he would talk to Blue. He wasn't sure that Keith actually heard him, but it made Lance feel better.

He told Keith many things. He told him about his family back on Earth, his favorite memories from growing up. His love of swimming that had made him captain of his grade school swim team, "The Mighty Minnows." Lance had come up with that name himself and was very proud of it, even though their team was always made fun of. "But we always kicked butt and took names," He clarified.

"Well, actually…" Lance's voice trailed off. He let out a sigh. "Not always… I was the captain of a two-person team, so we rarely were ever very good…" He sighed again. "If I'm being completely honest with you, there's a lot of stuff that I exaggerate about… I'm not really as much of a lady's man as I like to pretend to be… I've… I've never actually kissed anyone. Heck, I've never even really dated anyone before… So, you gotta pull outta this, buddy… Because I'm really looking forward to calling you mine, if you'll have me…"

Lance stayed a while longer, but he was becoming so worried for Keith that he was neglecting all else. Eventually, Hunk came into the cryo pod room to check up on his friends.

"Hey. Any change?"

"Yeah. Totally. I think I'm going insane."

"Look… Lance, I know you feel responsible for Keith and all, but you look awful. Like, seriously, man. You haven't slept; you barely eat… You need to take care of yourself too. You won't do anyone any good in your current state."

"But I don't want him to be alone when he wakes up. I don't want him to fall out of that pod like Allura did when we first met her. Not after he just fell off a cliff…"

Hunk gave a small, lopsided smile. "Lance, go take some time. Shower. Swim. I'll stay with Keith. If he wakes up, you'll be the first person I notify. Ok?"

Lance of course refused and continued to refuse the entire time Hunk was picking him up and carrying him out of the room.

"No, Lance. You are going to go shower and swim. You stink and look more stressed out than when you had to pass Mr. Zardiky's Calculus final before you could get into flight school." With that, Hunk dropped Lance outside of the cryo room, scurried back inside, and shut the door.

After pounding on the door for a varga didn't help, Lance figured he might as well take a shower if he stunk bad enough for Hunk to say something. Besides, a few laps in the pool sounded like the best thing in the world right about now.

Inside the cryo pod, Keith saw nothing. He felt nothing. But he could hear Lance's voice. Not all of it made sense. Sometimes, Keith's groggy mind could only make out the tone and timbre of the Blue Paladin. Other days, he could hear every word spoken as clear as day. Today, was one of those days. Keith never knew how long Lance would sit and talk to the shell of the cryo pod, there was no sense of time in the listless, calm, darkness that had become Keith's world.

When the darkness fell away and his senses were all but overwhelmed by sights, sounds, and smells, Keith practically fell into the arms of the waiting Hunk, who steadied him gently.

"Hey, Keith! You're awake!"

"Huh? Hunk?" Keith looked into the taller Paladin's eyes with slight confusion. "Wha… What happened to me? My head feels so fuzzy."

As Hunk began to tell of the accident and Lance's daring rescue, Keith's mind began to fill in the blanks on its own. He looked around the cryo room, taking in the pile of blankets and pillows on the floor, along with a very familiar pair of Blue Lion slippers.

"Hunk, has Lance been sleeping in here?"

"What? Oh, yeah. He kind of feels like he's responsible or something, I think. He hasn't left this room for much more than food and using the bathroom."

"Where… Where is he now? I better go tell him I'm alright."

"Well, an hour ago I forced him out and told him to go shower and take a swim. So maybe in the pool? But I was just gonna use the coms to let him know, you know?"

"No thanks, Hunk. I'll go. I'll be fine. Besides, I have to thank him for saving my life and all. Why don't you go let Allura and the others know I'm ok."

"Uh, yeah. Sure. I can do that." Hunk started to leave, but before he had fully gone, he turned back once more. "Oh, yeah, Keith?" The Red Paladin looked up. "I think there's a little more than just responsibility driving Lance. If you feel the same way, I'm all for you guys. But, if you don't, then you better let him down easy, because I swear, if you hurt my boy Lance, I'll put you right back in that cryo pod."

Keith almost laughed as Hunk walked out of the room. He had never heard Hunk being so aggressive before about anything other than food and Shae. _Well,_ he thought. _Let's go see if I can swim well enough to be on the Mighty Minnows team._

Lance slid almost gracefully through the water on his back, eyes closed, just listening to the muffled sounds of the filtration system through the water. He knew he would be getting close to the edge of the pool and have to turn around soon. He had missed this; he needed the cool touch of the water to remind him that things would get better eventually. But he wasn't expecting the tidal wave that crashed over his body, forcing him under water. He came up spluttering as he shook the water from his eyes.

"Who the heck do you think you are? What are ya trying to do? Kill me?"

In front of him swam a dark-haired, pale-skinned boy with a shaggy mullet. "No. Not today." With that, Keith reached out, grabbed Lance by the arm, pulled him in close, and kissed him. Lance, taken aback at first, would have gladly let the kiss continue, had it not been for the fact that they both were quickly sinking under water.

"Keith! You just got out of cryo, and now you're going to drown the both of us just to kiss me…" The thought caught Lance as he realized what he had just said.

"Well, I never got to say 'thank you' for saving my life… Or to tell you that I loved you too… Or that I couldn't ask for a better boyfriend in the whole known universe… If you'll have me…" That familiar crooked smile began to toy at Keith's lips, and Lance couldn't help himself. He pulled himself and Keith closer to the wall, and then kissed Keith the way he had always dreamed his first kiss would be.


End file.
